1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to threaded pipe connections and, more particularly, to a corrosion-resistant threaded connection assemblies for use with clad pipe such as can be used as oil and gas well tubing and casing, piping in chemical and other plants, oil and gas pipelines, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous instances where piping and pipelines are used for transporting fluids that are highly corrosive to materials such as carbon steel from which such pipe and pipelines are typically made. In particular, in the production of oil and gas, there is a growing need for corrosion-resistant alloy pipe, e.g., tubing, because of the continuing increase in the drilling of oil and gas wells into pay zones that produce highly corrosive fluids. To overcome the corrosion problems, and as well known to those skilled in the art, it is common to use lined steel pipe, which liners may be made of plastic, stainless steel, or other corrosion-resistant materials.
A typical multiple-walled composite pipe, e.g., a lined steel pipe, is a dual or double-walled pipe in which the inner wall is a liner tube made of a corrosion-resistant material e.g., stainless steel, or some other corrosion-resistant material (metal alloy) that serves as a conductor for the corrosive fluid, and an outer wall or pipe that is corrosion-prone, e.g., carbon steel and that is designed to provide strength to withstand the internal pressures of the corrosive fluid, as well as external forces such as external pressure, mechanical loading, etc.
Obviously, particularly in the case of tubing or casing, there are limitations on the length of such double-walled pipes due to conditions to which the pipes are subjected on site. Thus, in the case of tubing or casing strings and in the production of oil and gas, each joint of pipe is usually about 30-40 feet long while the tubing or casing string itself may be thousands of feet long. Accordingly, and as is well known in making up such tubing or casing strings, successive joints of tubing/casing are connected together using couplings until the desired length of string is achieved.
Typically, in these multiple-walled composite pipes, the inner tube or liner made of the corrosion-resistant material does a highly effective job of protecting the corrosion-prone outer tube or pipe. Indeed, methods of successively internally cladding corrosion prone pipe with a corrosion-resistant material are well known to those skilled in the art. The problem is not with the clad pipe, but rather where successive joints of the clad pipe are adjoined to one another by means of a coupling. For many years, the goal has been to create a "holiday-free" interface at the junction of the clad pipe and the coupling. It serves no purpose to connect clad pipe utilizing a coupling that is subject to corrosion since such a connection will sooner or later fail because the coupling will fail.
The prior art is replete with pipe couplings and assemblies ostensibly designed to overcome the problem of eliminating corrosive attack at the junction of the pipe and the coupling. However, insofar as is known to Applicants, none of these solutions have been readily embraced by the oil and gas industry, either because of cost factors, failures caused by corrosion, or lack of sufficient structural integrity at the pipe/coupling juncture.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,652, there is disclosed a corrosion-resistant pipe coupling structure comprising a tubular coupling member having axially opposite ends thereof. Internal screw threads form boxes that engage male screw threads forming pins provided on the axially opposing end parts of two pipes to be connected, the internal surface of each of the pipes being resistant to corrosive fluids. An intermediate annular projection is provided on the inner surface of the coupling member and directed radially inwardly thereof to be abuttingly interposed between the opposing end parts of the pipes. The structure is characterized in that the intermediate annular projection is made of a corrosion-resistant material, at least in a radially intermost part thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,583 also discloses corrosion-resistant tubing or casing for use in the oil and gas industry.